oneeyedjohn:Looking at why my computer is failing, broken capacitors on Mobo, dodgy heatsink, old graphics,
I dont htink the others who have mentioned upgrade your old one read this paragraph. If you have dodgy capacitors on the motherboard there is no point upgrading unless you get a new motherboard too.
So...you could find a 2nd hand motherboard on ebay and have someone stuff around with your old bits and hopefully everything starts up wonderful, but you will still have to upgrade your RAM and your Graphics and you will have to format your hard drive anyway.
You are right. AMD is kinda best bang for buck at the moment however the i5/ i7 platform are leaps ahead in technology & probably more future proof for upgrades down the track.
In Australia we have local PC shops that can build one to spec or in fact have configurations to choose from. These are better value than going to your Chain Store electronics shop and buying one off the shelf.
Not sure how your situation is in Iceland.
Ebay are not the cheapest. Find a PC on ebay and get someone to build it where you are, you will save $$
A HP Pavilion is a good machine, but not great value for money.
Dell are a little more pricey but have OUTSTANDING warranties and aftewr sales service.
I would get a custom built one from your local PC shop.
If you are looking at AMD then get Phenom II 965 3.6ghz
However my preference would be Intels 'i' series
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3ghz
Forget "integrated" "on board" graphics, dedicated are far more reliable and dont borrow from your system memory
Graphics: starting point is a Radeon GForce GTS450 card (Approx $100) (high end cards are close to $1000) anything less isnt worth the money.
128bit should be the least, if you can get a 256bit even better for around that money
Memory: 4gb is probably ample for you however Memory is so cheap these days why not go to 8GB
Dont buy a bottem end Motherboard. These will burst their capacitors under your dry hot conditions too soon.
I'd recommend a mid range Gigabyte or ASUS board.
Hard Drive: 1 Terrabyte is cheap, 2 terrabytes also cheap. 500GB? spend $20 more for a 1T
and of course Windows 7 64bit Home Premium. to run it all on.
So you have a starting point with Windows, CPU, Motherboard, Graphics, Hard Drive and Memory.
The rest doesnt matter.
DVD drive any will do
Speakers, Keyboard, mouse (stay away from bluetooth mouse for WGT)
(I like Logitech products for these.)
However. Your monitor is what you are looking at. It is the one that is the eye candy.
Get a good one. 22"/ 24" is a sweet spot for price right now really anything bigger (27"+) is overkill unless your gaming or manipulating large spreadsheets.
Samsung are the talk of the town at the moment. get a decent LED one
Benq and Asus also have good offerings. Keep in mind 80% of monitors use Samsung panels anyway.
Your existing Internet gear should be fine. (Stay away from pure wireless connections if you can help it. A phone line hard wire connection is far more reliable and stable)
Hope that gives you a bit of a launch pad.
Considerations you may want to keep in mind:
USB ports how many do you need for your external devices, such as Keyboard/ Mouse/ Camera/ external hard drives etc.
Check the motherboard or the CASE has ample.
CASE - in your Hot Dusty climate, be sure the case has adequate cooling. 2 - 3 case fans and a filtered intake
Although we all know you could 'get away' with the AMD you tried WGT on in the store NOW. Onc eyou fgill it with yuor own stuff, will it perform the same?
The recommendations I have offered are NOT over the top, a little over a 'Budget pc'
With the idea of smooth WGT & internet and basic things other people do with their PCs, these options are bang for buck right now.
In Australia this system would run about $500 + monitor ~ $220
Australia price is similar to US price at the moment - a tad cheaper
Spend the max your budget will allow NOW.
Feel free to Message me with any questions.
My website:
www.bluemountainspc.net